The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) today completed its review of Ohio Administrative Code provisions for state public improvements—a process it undertakes every five years.

BEST VALUE SELECTION PROCESS

This year’s review lead to a substantial change to the best value selection process in OAC 153:1-6. Ohio Administrative Code Sections 153:1-6-01 and 153:1-6-02 govern the process for a public authority’s selection of a construction manager at risk and a design-build firm. The former versions of those rules required that the public authority convene an evaluation committee as part of the selection process, but the composition of the committee was left to the unfettered discretion of the public authority.

The amended versions of OAC 153:1-6-01 and 153:1-6-02 limit the public authority’s discretion by restricting the number of “public body” members allowed on the evaluation committee. “Public body” is defined in R.C. 121.22 and includes state agencies, political subdivisions, and public institutions. The new limitation prohibits the evaluation committee from being comprised of enough public body members to constitute a quorum. In other words, public body members cannot control the evaluation committee’s vote.

MINOR RULE CHANGES

In addition to the changes to the best value selection process, the Commission recommended minor changes to seven rules and added one new rule to adjust the public bidding threshold for state agency and higher education public improvement projects. The changes update references from the Department of Administrative Services to the Facilities Construction Commission and update website addresses for finding contract and surety bond forms. The one new rule describes the calculation method and inflation index to use for adjusting the monetary threshold for public bidding and sets the new threshold at $215,000.